Serbian Coordination: Even after 25 years, no one was held accountable for the crimes committed against the Serbs in Orahovac

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the mass kidnapping and murder of the Serbs in Orahovac by the KLA, the Coordination of Serbian Associations of Families of Missing, Murdered, and Dead Persons from the Former Yugoslavia (Serbian Coordination) pointed out that the practice of impunity for crimes against the Serbs by international organizations had led to this that the authorities in Pristina built a society that publicly said that the Kosovo Police was a continuation of the KLA.

According to the statement of the Serbian Coordination, from July 18 to 22, 1998, during an armed attack by KLA members on Orahovac and the surrounding Serbian villages, over 100 Serbian civilians were kidnapped, and seven persons of Serbian nationality were killed in the attacks.

"The entire Serbian population was expelled from the villages of Retimlje, Opterusa, and Zociste and taken to prisons and camps under the control of the so-called KLA. Only from the Kostic family from the village of Retimlje, 14 members were kidnapped, including the youngest Kostic Nebojsa, who was only 17 years old. A group of 35 civilians, mostly women, children, and the elderly, were freed on July 22, 1998, through the International Red Cross, while all traces of the others were lost. In 2005, the remains of 36 Serbs were found in the Volujak pit in the municipality of Klina and in the mass grave near Malisevo, while the fate of the rest is still unclear," the Serbian Coordination said.

They reminded that even after 25 years, no one had been held accountable for the crimes committed against the Serbs in Orahovac parish, although there were living witnesses - victims of the said crime.

"The practice of impunity for crimes against the Serbs, established by the inaction of the international missions in Kosovo and Metohija - UNMIK, KFOR, and EULEX, contributed to the self-proclaimed Albanian authorities in Pristina building a society that these days publicly said that the so-called Kosovo Police Service was a continuation of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army. It is unrealistic to expect such a society, which celebrates crimes against the Serbs and exerts continuous systemic pressure, discrimination, and terror on the remaining Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, to face the past and punish criminals from the ranks of former members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army and move towards building a tolerant multi-ethnic society in which the rule of law will be respected," they added.

The Serbian Coordination expresses the belief that "all criminals will receive the punishment they deserve", and that the victims' families will realize their right to truth, justice, and satisfaction.